Defamiliarization or ostranenie (остранение) is the artistic technique of forcing the audience to see common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, in order to enhance perception of the familiar. A basic satirical tactic, it is a central concept of 20th century art, ranging over movements including Dada, postmodernism, epic theatre, and science fiction. A fine example is the cartoon character Pepe le Pew's phrase "My sweet peanut of brittle". This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (individuals, organizations, states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... 20th Century Art begins with Impressionism through to contemporary art. ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... Postmodernism is an idea that has been extremely controversial and difficult to define among scholars, intellectuals, and historians, because the term implies to many that the modern historical period has passed. ... Epic theater, also known as theater of alienation or theater of politics, is a theater movement arising in the early to mid-20th century, inextricably linked to the German director Bertolt Brecht. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Pepe Le Pew in the short Little Beau Pepe. ...

Defamiliarization (as a term, not a technique) was developed in the mid-20th century by Viktor Shklovsky, who is most often associated with Russian Formalism. It was also slightly more publicized by Horace Miner [1956] with his story “Body Rituals Amongst the Nacirema,” where he characterized the rituals of Americans when they go about their morning perparations. Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky (or Shklovskii) (January 24, 1893–December 6, 1984) was a Russian and Soviet critic, writer, and pamphleteer. ... // Introduction The distinctive feature of Russian Formalism is the emphasis on the functional role of literary devices and the original conception of the evolution of literary history. ... Horace Mitchell Miner was born on May 26, 1912, in St. ...

The technique appears in English Romantic poetry, particulary in the poetry of Wordsworth, and was defined in the following way by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in his Biographia Literaria: "To carry on the feelings of childhood into the powers of manhood; to combine the child’s sense of wonder and novelty with the appearances which every day for perhaps forty years had rendered familiar [. . .] this is the character and privilege of genius."

In more recent times, it has been associated with the poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht, whose Verfremdungseffekt (Alienation Effect) was a potent element of his approach to theater. Brecht, in turn, has been highly influential for artists and filmmakers including Jean Luc Godard and Yvonne Rainer. Bertolt Brecht (February 10, 1898 - August 14, 1956) was an influential German dramatist, stage director, and poet of the 20th century. ...

External links

• “Body Rituals Amongst the Nacirema” "Postmodern view of Americans"